09/11/2026
Congratulations to James & Jasz Martindale on being the Best of Show winners for the 2026 Scenic City Labor Day Car Show! Their 1973 Chevy K10 Short Box Truck is this year’s grand champion! 🏆
For most folks, a car show trophy is just a piece of metal. But for Jasz and her husband, James Martindale, winning Best of Show this year represents a journey thirteen years in the making — and a whole lot of history.
High school sweethearts who have been married for eight years, James and Jasz are raising two children: seven-year-old son Jay, and four-month-old daughter Jocelyn. But the story of their award-winning truck goes back much further than their relationship.
"It originally belonged to my biological father when I was growing up, back when it was a big, loud mud truck," Jasz shares. "One of my earliest memories is from when I was five years old, accidentally knocking the manual shifter out of gear while crossing Beaver Creek and getting so stuck we needed a tractor to pull us out days later."
After her parents divorced, Jasz's father eventually sold the truck to a neighbor behind their new house to support his struggles with addiction. It felt like a painful piece of childhood was gone for good. Years later, however, that same neighbor put it up for sale. James — who was Jasz's boyfriend at the time —stepped up and bought it so they could keep it in the family.
After life settled down and the couple married, they officially began a massive, five-year restoration project, stripping the old truck completely down to the frame and rebuilding it from the ground up.
"Standing there holding the Best of Show trophy with James, looking over at our kids, I couldn't help but smile," Jasz says. "This truck carries complicated childhood memories, but more than anything, it represents how far our family has come. We took a piece of our past and brought it beautifully back to life."
Beautiful truck, James and Jasz. 💙 Congratulations! 👏
